Ignition apparatus



July 19, 1932. c, DAWS, JR 1,868,000

IGNITION APPARATUS Filed June 15. 1951 la /v0.1. 20%; zo/va Z0/Va4 w/ ZDm Z-D Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFice CHARLES HALL DAVISQJB F ANDERSON, INDIANA, ASSIGNGR TO DELCO-REMY COB!- POHATION, OI ANDERSON, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE IGNITION APPARATUS Application filed June 15,

This invention relates to ignition apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide ignition sparking impulses of adequate intensity for firing the engine, and to distribute these impulses in predetermined recurrent sequence by means of a distributor of novel construction em- 1 ploying merely a rotating segment which does not have any rubbing contact with any electrical conductor. I

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein a preferred embodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

1n the drawing:

The figure of the drawing is a wiring diagram illustrating a form of the present invention.

Referring to the drawing thevarious cylinders of an internal combustion engine are represented by the circles at the top of the figure and are numbered 1 to 6 respectively to designate the firing order but not necessarily the order in which these cylinders would be mechanically arranged. Each cylinder has a spark plug 21 connected by a suitable wire with a distributor insert or terminal post 22 these posts being numbered 1 to 6 respectively indicating their connections with the spark plugs of the cylinders 1 to 6 respectively. These terminals orinserts 22 are equally spaced in a circular .row with six other terminal posts 23 numbered 1 to V1, the posts numbered with Roman numerals being diametrically opposite the terminal posts-22 with Arabic numerals. Each pair of diametrically disposed posts are bridged electrically by a rotating segment 24 which is diametrically disposed with respect to the circular posts 22 and 23 and is rotatably supported by distributor shaft which rotates at.

one half engine speed.

It will be noted that there are twice as many 7 distributor posts or inserts as there are engine cylinders to befired. One continuous series of one half of these posts are con- 1931. semi No. 544,353.

nected respectively with spark plugs-namely the posts 22 #1 .to #6. The remaining distributor posts 23 #1 to #VI are connected alternately with similar apparatuses for generating sparking impulses.

Terminals 23 #1, #111 and #V are connected by wire 30 with ignition coil sec ondary 31, one terminal of which is grounded on ignition coil primary 32. Terminals 23 #11, #IV and #VI are connected by wire 33 0 with coil secondary 34 which is grounded on ignition coil primary 35. The ignition coil primaries 32 and 35 are connected by wires 36' and 37 respectively with a switch 38 connectedwith a battery 39 which is grounded at 40;

Primary winding 32 is connected by wire 41 with terminal 42 connected by leaf spring conductor 43 with a circuit breaker 44 pivoted at 45 and carrying a contact 46 engageable 0 with a contact 47 which is grounded at 48. Lever 44 carries a rubbing block 49 engageable with a cam 50 rotatable with shaft 25 at one half engine speed. V 1 V The ignition .coil primary 35 is connected 75 by wire 51 with a terminal 52 connected by a leaf spring conductor. 53 with a circuit breaker 54 which is pivoted at 55 and which carries a contact 56engageable with a contact 57 grounded at 48.; The lever 30 54 carries a rubbing block or cam follower 59 engageable with the cam 50. A condenser 60 shunts the contacts 46 and 47: and a condenser 61 shunts the contacts 56 and 57.

In an ignition apparatus constructed ac cording to the present invention for firing a two cycle'engine, the shaft25 rotatesat one-' half engine speed. During one-half revolution of the shaft 25 which takes place during one revolution of the engine crank shaft, the cam 50 will operate upon the cam follower 49 three times and alternately upon, the cam follower 59 three times thus alternately charging and discharging each ignition coil three times in order to produce six' sparking impulses necessary for firing the six engine cylinders duringv one revolution of the engine shaft. The three sparking impulses generated by coil 32, 31 are conducted to distributor terminals 23 #I, #III and #V. The three sparking impulses generated by ignition coil 35, 34 are conducted to distributor terminals 23 #II, #IV and #VI. Thus the terminals 23 are divided into two alternately arranged series, each series alternately receiving sparking impulses. When the series comprising terminals 23 #I, #III and #V receive sparking impulses the distributor rotor 24 will be located so that one of its ends will be adjacent one of the terminals 23 #I, #III or #V, and its other end will be adjacent one of distributor terminals 22 #1, #3 and #5. Likewise whenever the second series of distributor terminals 23 #II, #IV and #VI receives a sparking'impulse, the distributor rotor 24 will be located so that one of its ends is adjacent one of the posts 23 #II, #IV and #VI and its other end is adjacent one of the terminals 22 #2, #4 and #6.

During a subsequent revolution of the engine shaft the cam 50 will complete the other half of its revolution and likewise the rotor 24 will complete the other half of its revolution'. However, the same sequence of sparking impulses Will be produced as was probreakers.

duced during the first half revolution of cam 50 and rotor 24.

It is apparent that since the timer cam 50 rotates at one half engine speed and a plurality of alternately charged and discharged ignition coils are' employed, there will be sufficient time for building the primary current in each coil of value sufiicient for sparking purposes.

It will be observed that the distributor is so constructed and arranged and operated that the usual distributor segment having a rubbing contact with a stationary terminal has been eliminated. Since a simple diametrically arranged bridging conductor is all that is required to cooperate with the circular posts or inserts it is apparent that all wear in the distributor head has been eliminated by avoiding the use of cooperating stationary and movable par-cs in frictional contact such as the conventional center button and centrally disposed portion of the rotor segment cooperating with the button.

Although the drawing shows the invention arranged for firing a SDI cylinder two cycle internal combustion engine, it will be under-.

stood that the invention is capable of being applied to engines having other numbers of cylinders. It s apparent from the wiring.

diagram that if C- represents the number of ignition coils and N the number of en gine cylinders, there must be C circuit The cam 50 must have cam lobes The distributor must have -2N 211561135, N ofwhich are connected respectively with the N engine cylinders, the remaining N inserts being connected alternately with the O ignition coils respectively. For eXample, it may be desirable to employ four ignition coils to fire a sixteen cylinder two-cycle internal combustion engine. This would require four circuit breakers. The number of cam lobes would be The number of distributor inserts is equal to 2 l6=32. One half or 16 of tnese inserts located in a continuous series are connected respectively with the 16 spark plugs of the engine. The remaining 16 distributor inserts are connected in four alternately arranged groups of four inserts in each group- The four groups are connected respectively with the four ignition coils. It is apparent that the present invention teaches how to provide suitable ignition apparatus for other numbers of engine cylinders and using other num-' bers of ignition coils.

It is apparent that ignition apparatus may be constructed in accordance with the present invention for firing a four cycle engine. In case of a four cycle engine, the timer drive shaft rotates at one-fourth engine speed. Such apparatus can be used to advantage to fire a very high speed four cycle engine since it is possible to materially decrease the rela tive speed of the timer cam 50.

Thepresent inventioncan also be used with a relative slow speed two cycle or four cycle engine. In such case it will not be necessary to have more than one ignition coil and circuit breaker. In case of a six cylinder engine, either two cycles or four cycles, if one coil and circuit breaker are used, the cam 50 will have twelve lobes instead of six. In this case the number of cam lobes is equal to as in the case of an ignition system having a plurality of ignition coils which are alter nately charged and discharged.

' While the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. Ignition apparatusfor a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine comprising in combination, engine controlled means for providing a series of sparking impulses in timed recurring sequence, and means for distributing said sparking impulses comprising a distributor. head having a single circular row of terminal inserts or posts one-half of 8 lobes.

nected with engine spark plugs, the remaine which, located in a continuous series, are conder being connected with the sparking impulse producing means, said distributing means comprising also a diametrically disposed conductor for bridging diametrically opposite distributor inserts, said conductor being rotatable at one-half engine speed for a two cycle engine, or at one-fourth engine speed for a four cycle engine.

2. Ignition apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a plurality of ignition coils, means for alternately charging and discharging said coils in order to provide a plurality of series of sparking impulses which occur in alternately recurring sequence, and means for distributing said sparking impulses comprising a distributor head having asingle circular row of terminal inserts or posts, one half of which, located in a continuous series, are connected with engine spark plugs, the other half of which are alternately connected to the ignition coils, said distributing means comprising also a diametrically disposed conductor for bridging diametrically opposite distributor inserts, said conductor being rotatable at one-half engine speed for a two cycle engine, or at one-fourth engine speed for a four cycle engine.

3. Ignition apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a plurality of C ignition coils, a plurality of alternately operated circuit breakers equal in number to the number of coils and adapted to charge and discharge the coils in alternately recurring sequence, a cam for operating the circuit breakers, the number of lobes of the cam being equal to where N equals the number of engine cylinders, and a distributor comprising a head having 2N terminal inserts or posts arranged in a single circular row, a continuous series of N inserts being connected with spark plugs, and the remaining N inserts being alternately connected with the ignition coils, said distributor comprising also a diametrically disposed conductor for bridging diametrically opposite distributor inserts, said conductor and cam being rotatable at onehalf engine speed for a two cycle engine, or at one-fourth engine speed for a four cycle engine.

4. Ignition apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine comprising in combination, at least one ignition coil, the number of the coils being C, at least one circuit breaker, a circuit breaker for controlling a coil, a circuit breaker operating cam, the number of lobes of the cam being equal to where N equals the number of engine cylinders, and a distributor comprising a head having 2N terminal inserts or posts arranged in a single circular row, a continuous series of N inserts being connect ed with spark plugs and the remaining inserts being connected with at least one ignition coil, said distributor comprising also a diametrically disposed conductor for bridging diametrically opposite distributor inserts, said conductor and cam being rotatable at one-half engine speed for a two cycle engine, or at one-fourth engine speed for a four cycle engine.

5. Ignition apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, comprising in combination, a plurality of sparking impulse generators, means operated by the engine for causing the generators to operate alternately to produce aseries of sparkingimpulses suflicient to fire the engine during each cycle of engine operation, and means for distributing said sparking impulses to the various spark gaps of the engine, said means including a distributor head having a series of posts arranged in an arcuate row and connected, respectively, with the engine spark gaps, and including another series of posts arranged in an arcuate row, alternate ones of the second series of posts being connected to one of the sparking impulse generators and other alternate ones of said second series of posts being connected to another sparking impulse generator, and a distributor rotor which is driven at one-half engine cycle speed and which carries two connected distributor arms so arranged that, during one cycle of engine operation, one of the arms cooperates with the first mentioned series of posts and another arm cooperates with the second series of posts and so that during the next succeeding cycle of operation the relation of said rotor arms is reversed with respect to the second series of distributor posts.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my sig-v nature.

CHARLES HALL DAVIS, JR.

ILC 

